VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I'm sure others here have discovered this technique but thought I'd try to describe it after having a bit of a revelation riding the wing flagged out a while back in light air in swell.

Usually I'd ride with the wing downwind of my body, passing the wing from hand to hand as I'd change direction running down the swell. This usually works well enough in higher wind and the wing is only momentarily in the way as you carve. As long as you don't run too long straight at the wing downwind you don't risk stalling it and running it over.

The revelation happened when I was trying 360s flagged out and realized that the wing is also pretty happy being towed behind you as you cruise down wind, effectively having the trailing edge into the wind as the wing floats off the front handle in your hand. The technique really frees up your vision and gives so many more options for turning. I used it yesterday again at Island View running down the swell in light air and the wing was completely out of the way making for great feeling turns. The wing will occasionally drag momentarily in the water but it frees itself quickly. The wing kind of swings around behind you as you carve back and forth down wind.

Maybe this is obvious and I'm slow to catch on but I don't see many doing this outside of a few James Casey videos I've seen recently. Might be fun to try for someone who's not done it before. Hope this description makes sense?

When you say behind you do you mean down by your hip or above your head? Not that I'm even close to that level yet but this may help

Windjunky wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:43 am When you say behind you do you mean down by your hip or above your head? Not that I'm even close to that level yet but this may help

Down by your hip. You grip the front handle as usual, but the wing is behind you flying on apparent wind.

Like this. At 1:03 you see him pumping downwind with the wing in the trailing position clearly.He keeps the wing out of the way and it opens up his visibility and carving ability so much more. The wind is light enough that he'd run the wing over if it was flagged out normally, so he tows it and flies on apparent wind.

This works best with foils that like to accelerate and can outrun swell/waves. I had this revelation last year on the inside nw san p which is usually a big wind shadow. Wing behind the back accelerating down/along swell on the sab 1000, then a high speed wide arc jibe passing the wing low behind my back. Had to lift my wing leash over my head after the pass since I was wearing it on my wrist. Maybe it's time for a handle pass slider harness leash attachment.

Great point on this Windoc! At first I was thinking we don't see more of this around here since we are generally riding windswell moving in the same direction as the wind. In lighter wind as you say though it should be possible to trim along the wave at a steep enough angle that you are running closer to perpendicular to the wind direction rather than parallel which makes the speed necessary to generate "wing dragging" apparent wind more manageable.

Will definitely be more deliberate in playing with this my next session!

Check out this "wing drag" handle pass Matt shared on the progression forum: